Direct action tools

Direct (without intervening persons, influences, factors: straightforward; frank; candid: inevitable; consequential:)

Action (to start doing something: the process or state of acting or of being active: something done or performed : an exertion of power)

If we are going to turn things around and stop the worst impacts of climate change, we need action now. And if Goverenments aren't doing it, it is up to citizens of conscience to take direct action. It is easy to foget that peaceful direct action and civil disobedience are a fundamental part of our democracy. The reason we have weekends is because of labour movement protests. Women have the vote because the Suffragettes took to the streets. The anti-slavery movement, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement all used civil disobedience to win fundamental freedoms that we now take for granted. This page aims to provide some tools, and to share some of the rich experience of succesful direct action over recent years. So whether you're young or old, whether you were born on top of a tripod or have been a law abiding citizen your whole life, we'd like to provide some guidance and assistance on your journey towards becoming a noble troublemaker.

Links to resources on nonviolent direct action

Common myths about direct action

"Six reasons why we're not nutters" 

Action checklist - important things to consider when doing direct action

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance "Handbook for Nonviolent Action"

The ACTUP Civil Disobedience index

The Change Agency have lots of great resources on campaign strategy and direct action, including case studies, training manuals and workshops

Go to the Nonviolence Training Project to read Robert J. Burrowes on "Should I be Arrested?" and 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp.

Henry David Thoreau's famous essay on 'Civil Disobedience'